IIHS Names 2008 Top Safety Picks-Video Enhanced

2008 winners of Top Safety Pick
award — number of winners increases; pickups eligible for first
time

Institute for Highway Safety's Top Safety Pick
award for 2008. The award recognizes vehicles that do the best job of
protecting people in front, side, and rear crashes based on ratings in the
Institute's tests. Winners also have to be equipped with electronic
stability control (ESC), which research shows can significantly reduce the
risk of crashing.

Compared with last year, automakers have more than doubled the
number of vehicles that meet criteria for Top Safety
Pick. At the beginning of the 2007 model year, 13 models qualified,
but as manufacturers have made changes and introduced new and safer
vehicle designs, 10 additional vehicles qualified during the year. Now
another 11 vehicles are being added to the list for
2008. Designating winners based on the tests makes it easier for consumers
to identify vehicles that afford the best overall protection without
sifting through multiple sets of comparative crash test results.

"For 2008, consumers have the widest selection of vehicles
they've ever had that afford the best protection in the most common kinds
of crashes," says Institute president Adrian Lund. Front and side impacts
are the most common kinds of fatal crashes, killing nearly 25,000 of the
31,000 vehicle occupants who died in 2005. Rear-end crashes usually aren't
fatal, but they result in a large proportion of the injuries that occur in
crashes. About 60 percent of insurance injury claims in 2002 reported
minor neck sprains and strains.

All current car and minivan models, small and midsize SUVs, and
small and large pickup trucks are eligible to win Top
Safety Pick. Eight vehicles from Ford and its subsidiary, Volvo,
make the list of winners for 2008. Seven winners are from Honda and its
subsidiary, Acura.

Winners have features that help avoid crashes:
The Institute added a crash prevention criterion last year to earn Top Safety Pick. Winning vehicles have to be equipped
with ESC, which can help drivers avoid crashes altogether. ESC is a
control system comprised of sensors and a microcomputer that continuously
monitors how well a vehicle responds to a driver's steering input and
selectively applies the vehicle brakes and modulates engine power to keep
the vehicle traveling along the path indicated by the steering wheel
position. This technology helps prevent sideways skidding and loss of
control that can lead to rollovers. ESC can help drivers maintain control
during emergency maneuvers when their vehicles otherwise might spin
out.

"Vehicles should be designed to provide good occupant protection
when crashes occur, but now with ESC we have the possibility of preventing
many crashes altogether," Lund says. "If all vehicles were equipped with
ESC, as many as 10,000 fatal crashes could be avoided each year."
Institute research indicates that ESC reduces the risk of fatal
single-vehicle crashes by 56 percent and fatal multiple-vehicle crashes by
32 percent. Many single-vehicle crashes involve rolling over, and ESC
reduces the risk of fatal single-vehicle rollovers by 80 percent (SUVs)
and 77 percent (cars).

For first time pickups are eligible: Pickup
trucks haven't been eligible to win Top Safety
Pick until now because the Institute hadn't begun side testing
them. The Toyota Tundra is first to qualify. Pickups aren't as likely as
cars or SUVs to have side airbags or ESC, and Toyota has made these
features standard in the Tundra.

"Pickups are among the top selling vehicles in the United
States," Lund points out. "They're also more likely than in the past to be
used as family vehicles, so equipping them with the latest safety features
is important."

Protection in rear impacts improves: Crash tests
have driven major improvements in the designs of all kinds and sizes of
passenger vehicles. The Institute began frontal crash tests for consumer
information in 1995. Side tests were added in 2003 and rear tests in 2004.
Most vehicles now earn good ratings in the frontal test, but significant
differences still are apparent in vehicle performance in side and rear
tests.

Some manufacturers have been working to improve the ratings of
their vehicles in the rear test. For example, the seat/head restraints in
the Honda Accord, Element, and Odyssey as well as the BMW X3 and X5 are
rated good compared with previous designs that were rated marginal or
poor. Audi improved the design of seat/head restraints in the A3 from
acceptable to good. Another 23 vehicles would have won 2008 awards if they
had good seat/head restraint designs. Toyota could have claimed 10 more
awards, including 3 for Lexus models. Nissan and Volkswagen could have
picked up 4 awards apiece.

Another area where safety is improving is occupant protection in
side impacts. More 2008 model vehicles include as standard equipment side
airbags designed to protect people's heads. The Saturn was side tested
twice. In the first test, the side curtain airbag didn't deploy properly,
and the head of the dummy positioned in the back seat was struck by the
sill of the window in the door. This impact didn't produce high head injury
measures, but head protection was inadequate. In response, General Motors
redesigned the side curtain airbag to ensure more rapid inflation and
better coverage of the airbag next to the dummy's head. In the second
test, the fix was successful, and the VUE's side rating improved from
acceptable to good. Top Safety Pick applies to
VUEs built after December 2007.

Each year, the Institute offers to test Top
Safety Pick candidates early in the model year. The policy is for
manufacturers to reimburse the Institute for the cost of vehicles if the
tests aren't part of the group's regular schedule. Top
Safety Pick is presented by vehicle size because size and weight
are closely related, and both influence how well occupants will be
protected in serious crashes. Larger, heavier vehicles generally afford
better protection in crashes than smaller, lighter ones.

How the vehicles are evaluated: The Institute's
frontal crashworthiness evaluations are based on results of frontal offset
crash tests at 40 mph. Each vehicle's overall evaluation is based on
measurements of intrusion into the occupant compartment, injury measures
from a Hybrid III dummy in the driver seat, and analysis of slow-motion
film to assess how well the restraint system controlled dummy movement
during the test.

Each vehicle's overall side evaluation is based on performance in
a crash test in which the side of the vehicle is struck by a barrier
moving at 31 mph that represents the front end of a pickup or SUV. Ratings
reflect injury measures recorded on two instrumented SID-IIs dummies,
assessment of head protection countermeasures, and the vehicle's
structural performance during the impact. Injury measures obtained from
the two dummies, one in the driver seat and the other in the back seat
behind the driver, are used to determine the likelihood that a driver
and/or passenger in a real-world crash would have sustained serious
injury. The movements and contacts of the dummies' heads during the crash
also are evaluated. Structural performance is based on measurements
indicating the amount of B-pillar intrusion into the occupant
compartment.

Rear crash protection is rated according to a two-step procedure.
Starting points for the ratings are measurements of head restraint
geometry — the height of a restraint and its horizontal distance
behind the back of the head of an average-size man. Seats with good or
acceptable restraint geometry are tested dynamically using a dummy that
measures forces on the neck. This test simulates a collision in which a
stationary vehicle is struck in the rear at 20 mph. Seats without good or
acceptable geometry are rated poor overall because they can't be
positioned to protect many people

ARLINGTON, Va. September 25, 2008; Four small cars, two midsize cars, two midsize SUVs, one
large luxury
car, one small pickup, and a midsize convertible are the latest
winners
of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's TOP SAFETY
PICK
award. Winners afford superior overall crash protection among the
vehicles in their classes. To qualify, a vehicle must earn the
highest
rating of good in the Institute's front, side, and rear tests. It
also
must be equipped with electronic stability control.

"Criteria to win are tough because TOP SAFETY PICK is
intended to drive continued improvements such as good crash test
ratings
and rapid addition of electronic stability control, which is standard
equipment on 9 of the 11 new winners," says Institute president
Adrian
Lund. "Recognizing vehicles at the head of the class for safety helps
consumers distinguish the best overall choices without having to sort
through multiple test results."

ALSO RANS
Twenty-three vehicles earn good ratings in front and side crash
tests. They have ESC, standard or optional. They would be 2008 Top Safety Pick winners if their seat/head restraints
also earned good ratings: